Affirmative Action For College Admissions

The Founding Fathers wanted all men to be treated equal. The Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson, 1776). Unfortunately, equality for everyone has not been truly realized. The main issues affected were people’s skin color and gender. Women and people of color were not considered to be equal for many years. To correct this issue Affirmative Action was implemented. Affirmative Action helped people of color and women to be considered for jobs and accepted into colleges equally among other candidates. Today, equality between races and genders has improved, although Affirmative Action should be modified to meet the needs of today’s society.

Racial preference has indisputably favored Caucasian males in society. Recently this dynamic has been debated in all aspects of life, including college admission. Racial bias has intruded on the students’ rights to being treated fairly. Admitting students on merit puts the best individuals into the professional environment. A university’s unprejudiced attitude towards race in applicants eliminates biases, empowers universities to harness the full potential of students’ intellect, and gives students an equal chance at admission.

The various alternative forms of Affirmative Action all have received national attention. Yet, the country is divided on all of these issues, specifically how university admissions should assess issues of merit and diversity against national fundamental issues of diversity and fairness.

The utilization of race in affirmative action policies in higher education has been a topic of contention for several decades now. Since the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, we have seen some of the most heated debates over the fairness of affirmative action and the impacts on society the utilization of race creates. With such pending questions on fairness and of the constitutionality of affirmative action policies two major Supreme Court cases have arisen, University of California Regents v. Bakke and Grutter v. Bollinger, both impacting university admissions policies throughout the country and setting precedent in following rulings. Following the two rulings of these cases, I argue that affirmative action and the utilization of

The implementation of race-based affirmative action policies for college admission has been a controversial issue that has made its way into Supreme Court cases. Some argue that it is to counter racial inequality that minorities have suffered from while others believe affirmative action enforces reverse racism. The unconstitutionality of affirmative action has gone through the justice system and been addressed by the Supreme Court multiple times in cases such as Regents of the University of California v. Bakke [1978] and Gratz v. Bollinger [2003]. Changes must be made to ensure all student applicants are treated fairly in the college admissions process. Racial quota systems in state supported universities violate both the Civil Rights Act

The equal opportunity that affirmative action provides has also increased the amount of minority applicants applying to each school. It has “resulted in doubling or tripling the number of minority applications to colleges or universities, and have made colleges and universities more representative of their surrounding community” (Messerli). Since the playing field has been evened, it has encouraged more of those who are disadvantaged because of their ethnicity to apply for and get admitted into college. However, the quotas cause schools to admit under qualified students of minor races who don’t meet the limit over highly qualified students who’s race has reached the limit.

Anxiously awaiting its contents, the high school senior stares at his mailbox. He has been awaiting a response for months from his dream college. He has endured the endless questions from friends and family, "Did you hear from that college yet?" He has spent many a night he should have been sleeping lying in bed wondering whether he would be heading to his dream school in the fall. He has read numerous books and has done serious research on just what it took to get where he wanted to be. He continues to stare for hours, shaking from either anticipation or fear, though he cannot decide which. Finally his parents arrive home and encourage him to open the letter. He then opens the box. Now I ask this. Should this senior’s ethnicity impact

Known as one of the biggest obstacles in higher education to date would arguably be the use of affirmative action within the higher education admission process for both private and public institutions (Kaplin & Lee, 2014; Wang & Shulruf, 2012). The focus of current research is an attempt to either justify or deny the use of affirmative action within current practices through various higher education institutions, and though any one person could potentially be swayed to side with the rationale to maintain its use or disregard, the facts are quite clear that the future of this practice is unclear. Therefore, this essay will present current research in an attempt to determine if affirmative action should continue to be used

Affirmative Action has been around for many decades from around the 1940s. Although it has not always been called affirmative action, the official title was not introduced until the 1960s. Back then affirmative action was more known as segregation or discrimination in the workplace or there lack of. The women and people of color were the targets of discrimination, which several presidents tried to correct for equality.

“No, it’s not me, it’s you… What’s wrong with you? Why, nothing. You have everything we are looking for, it’s just…you’re black…” First established in 1961, Affirmative action (in the United States) was/is a practice in which the purpose is to improve the employment or educational opportunities of members of minority groups and women (Merriam Webster). Fast forward to today’s society and what is affirmative action now? Considering the prevalence of diversity in the workplace and in educational facilities, it should be of utmost importance that all people, regardless of race, are given the equal opportunity in the admissions and job application process; affirmative action would enforce that importance. However, many job applicants go to an

Affirmative Action in colleges needs to happen and continue, but admittance should not just be based on race it should be based on other factors like GPA, their parents’ occupation and education, and neighborhood When colleges have a variety of students from different backgrounds and ethnicities it is proven to show that students learn better and have better discussion. As Finkelman states; “If we believe we learn from our students, and that our students learn from each other, then the importance of minority students in the class is obvious. A diversity of views leads to a better discussion and greater understanding among the students”. This is an issue that is big in many colleges, but many do not realize it because they have not experienced it. Without affirmative action “it is clear that no one teacher can articulate all viewpoints well, and that a diversity of student opinions makes for better classes”

It was my senior year of high school when I started to panic about how I was going to get the money for college. My counselor weren’t as worried as I was because they felt that there was plenty of scholarship opportunities for me since I am a first generation student, Asian, female, and considered to be from a low-income family. These opportunities might not come with a price, but they came with a label. As for my classmate, Alan, he began his college application essay with, “Look, I understand I’m white…” He states that he understands that he’s white because he feels that he needs to make it clear that he understands he might not get as much chances for different types of financial aid and opportunities as people of color with similar financial

Affirmative Action admission policies have been highly criticized since their enactment in the 1960’s. Conservatives see affirmative action as an unfair tool for underachieving minority students rather than a policy to correct past racial inequalities and promote a diverse learning environment. This ideology of affirmative action is portrayed in Jim Huber’s political cartoon, number 1 on the list. Penned for a conservative audience, Huber’s political cartoon argues against affirmative action by suggesting that affirmative action does not promote hard work, but instead gives unequal advantages to minority students.

For the people that do not have the advantage to take admission in any specific college due to their background was the reason for Affirmative action being designed. Affirmative action works on the assumption that if minority applicants were striving to take admission in colleges, then there would be some limitations or constraints attached with the applicants. Therefore, this system in which an additional weight granted to applicants for their race or ethnicity was made, has had a major impact on the African-American minorities in education. Daigle is a published author, who speaks about Affirmative Action and how it has impacted college admissions, “The practices of different institutions for giving priority to the ethnic minorities, women,

As the Recruiting Manager for T&R Fabric Company, I have seen firsthand the need for an affirmative action that this company. I have seen department managers not hire highly qualified individual because of race, gender, color, religion and age. Those individual could have taken our company to the next level. I am asking the board of directors of this company to commitment an affirmative action policy that will make this company an equal opportunity employer, to meet and achieve the goals of this company with individual of different race, sex, religion, and age. Many of you may think that affirmative action is no longer need because we have grown